The summer of 2020 has definitely been the most uneventful summer yet. People may think that with all this extra time in between graduating high school and starting college that I would cure world hunger or start a nonprofit. I wish that were true, but these people are sadly mistaken: one, my high school graduation was in early July (even though school ended in June I still felt like a high schooler in that period between school ending and the in-person graduation so it didn’t feel like summer at all), and my college is starting two weeks earlier than normal. I only really had a month to myself. In retrospect, I definitely could have been more responsible with my time, but we’re living in a global pandemic. That’s an excuse, right?

Up until last week, I was exactly what I said I was: a lone floating orb. For a good reason: I was social distancing. During this period of social distancing though, I had grown used to always feeling slightly ticked off and picking up my phone every minute, aimlessly checking for absolutely nothing. It was the same routine: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, texts. Social media had definitely turned from a slightly fizzy, purple toxic to a glowy neon green, boiling-over-the-cauldron toxic, because people had more time at home to type stuff behind the screens of their phones. What good was it for me to spend upwards of four hours per day scrolling through random stuff and getting angsty over it when I could be doing more useful business? But what business did I have to do anyway?

I realized I hadn’t had a proper gathering with my friends in five months, since February. About half a year, if you think about it. That’s pretty unfortunate. It was probably time for me to climb out of my cave, take the necessary precautions, and see real people. So I did! 

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It is amazing how quickly the human mind forgets. Video calling had become my norm, and more often than not it was a complicated mess full of “Can you hear me?”’s and “Is my camera turned on?” with a whole different etiquette rulebook. I had forgotten how easy it was actually talking to people, how natural it felt. It was liberating seeing my friends’ faces in the flesh and in real time, without the bad lighting and grainy pixels. Everything felt genuine and whole. Playing 3 v 3 in badminton and squabbling over who the fascists are in Secret Hitler seemed like such normal things to do back then before the pandemic. Now these moments feel like stolen gold nuggets in my dreary humdrum cave called my summer experience. 

In an alternate reality though, face masks wouldn’t be hiding good-natured jeers when we discovered who the secret Hitler was, and we wouldn’t be looking into the cloudy void called Our Future in College and Life in General. But even so, I have learned to treasure these times with my friends even more because of all the current unrest and uncertainty. While being safe, of course. Because truly, small things such as hanging out with friends brings such a big rush of happiness, and I have not felt that happy rush in a long, long time. 

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Now, my friends and I are ripe sunflower seeds. One by one, we are flying away from the center of the flower called home, landing in many different places to go to college and take root. Of course, some of us will be staying home for now. But we are not sure when the next time we will all meet again will be. 

In a few days, I’ll be the next sunflower seed. That is why these last few moments with my friends are so precious to me. We can laugh about the dumbest stuff. We’ve all known each other for quite a while, some for more almost all our lives. Yes, I am pretty sure some of them will patent the next big cutting-edge tech, or cure world hunger, or start a nonprofit. But it will be the simple things, the games, the tongue-in-cheek roasting battles, the deep and silly conversations, that I will miss and cherish the most. 

*Cover photo is from The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.